IFT initiates patent litigation against TI, VW, Ford and Cisco

Innovative Foundry Technologies (IFT) says that it has initiated patent litigation in China (Shanghai IP Court) and Germany (District Court of Dusseldorf, Patent Litigation Chamber) against several parties in the automotive and networking industries for infringement of IFT's semiconductor fabrication and packaging patents.

the defendants in the Chinese lawsuit are Cisco Systems (China) Networking Technology Co., Ltd., Cisco (China) Co., Ltd. and a local distribution partner, Shanghai Huimai Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. Defendants in the German lawsuit are Volkswagen AG, Ford-Werke GmbH and Texas Instruments EMEA Sales GmbH, the company announces in a press release.
The Chinese defendants are accused of infringing Chinese Patent ZL200480035297.X and the German defendants are accused of infringing the related German Patent DE 11 2004 002 401 B4, both entitled, "Formation of Abrupt Junctions in Devices By Using Silicide Growth Dopant Snowplow Effect." These patents describes a device with abrupt shallow source and drain junctions with a high concentrations in integrated circuits, as well as a process for the highly efficient and economical manufacture of these devices.
"Although we are always open to discussions concerning the licensing of our extensive patent portfolio, when we are unable to achieve licenses, we will initiate targeted legal action to protect our intellectual property rights and to achieve our licensing objectives," says Warren Hurwitz, IFT's President and CEO, in the release. "We hope that these recent legal filings will encourage parties in the US and abroad to consider the scope, depth and strength of our portfolio, and to participate in licensing discussions without the need for legal action."
Noting that IFT has identified several other strong patents in its portfolio as likely subjects of future enforcement actions, Mr. Hurwitz stated, "While we will continue to engage in business discussions, we have to continue to execute on our licensing and litigation strategy, which may include additional litigation in the future."